"Your poor father will be so hungry, and so bad-tempered all day," said Mrs. Bastable, whom nothing seemed to ruffle. "Jack, will you carve the pork? You have not finished, Monsieur de Fronsac?"
"Absolutely, Madame," said the Frenchman with a bow and a smile. "Dere is yet an hour before ve study; I vill valk to de village and back. De fresh air it is salubrious; and de fishermen interess me. My estates vere in Brittany; and in my days of youth I pass much time among fishermen. Ven I come back, ve vill study de properties of angles, Monsieur Arthur."
And with a smile Monsieur de Fronsac left the room.
CHAPTER V
A MIDNIGHT EXCURSION
"I know!" said Arthur that evening, coming up to Jack, who was practising skittles in an alley behind the house. He looked up slyly in Jack's face.
"You do, do you? And what do you know?"
"About you."
"Well, I suppose you do. I'm Jack Hardy, son of Major James Hardy, late of the East India Company's service, and—"
"Didn't he touch you at all?"